Summertime Sadness
by writinginthestars
Summary: In a world where the existence of savants is well-known public knowledge, all savants are famous - whether they have a normal job or not, they are famous simply for what they are. It's a glamorous lifestyle, one with many benefits, and nearly all savants love the attention... (Full synopsis in chapter one)
1. Chapter 1

Full synopsis:

_In a world where the existence of savants is well-known public knowledge, all savants are famous - whether they have a normal job or not, they are famous simply for what they are. It's a glamorous lifestyle, one with many benefits, and nearly all savants love the attention._

_Non-savants, just ordinary humans, adore the savants and practically worship them. They're constantly wanting new exclusive news about who's got what power, who's dating who, who's wearing what, who's going to which event... And they also love to hear the action stories of savants fights, no matter how dangerous they may be._

_Lottie Rose Lovelle loves her life. Being a savant, actress and model, she is highly well known and has a better life than she could ever ask for. She's a cheery, happy girl, and has the exact same kind of people in her life. That is, until she meets Victor Benedict._

_Victor is boring, glum and depressive. He doesn't know how to have fun, nor does he intend on trying to. Lottie would usually avoid people like him but he is unavoidable: the two have a connection, one that she has never and will never have with anybody else._

_With the pressure of the whole world watching them and the pressure of their demanding jobs, can they ever find a way to be together without any complications? Or will they crumble, destined to never get a real chance together?_

* * *

**Chapter one**  
_"Look at earth from outer space_  
_Everyone must find a place_  
_Give me time and give me space_  
_Give me real; don't give me fake"_  
Politik - Coldplay

_"Welcome back after that short break. We at S! News are now at the biggest event of the year for savants! Savants from all over the world have travelled to be here, to be reunited with old friends and meet new ones. And who knows, maybe they'll meet their soulfinder, their one true soulmate, here tonight?" _Luna Wilson, a busty blonde TV presenter said into the camera before looking down the red carpet as a new limo pulled up and the fans held back by the barricade and security started screaming in excitement. As the next pair of celebrity savants stepped out of the limousine, Luna's face lit up. _"And next up to arrive on the red carpet here in London are the superstar model best friends, Finley Devlin and Lottie Rose Lovelle! As you all know, Finley and Lottie met a few years ago when they did a photoshoot for Vivienne Westwood's 2010 collection and have been friends ever since! Both models and both absolutely gorgeous, they sure would make one amazing couple... It's a shame Finley's gay!"_

The camera turned to get close-ups of the two as they got closer and posed for the photographers, letting the viewers get a better look at their outfits. Finley was wearing a simple grey Armani suit with a dark red tie, his dark blonde hair slicked back into a neat style. Lottie's dress was very revealing and that's what was in fashion lately: women wearing dresses that revealed a lot, but weren't too slutty. There was a fine line and Luna had already seen a few that had got it a bit wrong, but Lottie definitely wasn't one of them.

The dress was dark red in colour - the same colour as Finley's tie, clearly they had coordinated - and was floor-length with long sleeves of lace. The dress was backless as well as having a long V cut in the front, showing the edge of Lottie's D-cup breasts and the top of her flat stomach. At 6"4, Lottie was a tall young lady - all models were required to be tall though, of course - and one of her long legs were revealed in the long slit going up the left side of her dress that stopped right at the top of her thigh. She was wearing flat black sandals that had small silver studs and dark eye make-up. Even without wearing high heels, she was a little taller than Finley. Her dark brown hair was in loose curls to the middle of her back.

_"Well folks,"_ Luna said into her microphone over the sound of the fans screaming at the numerous savants walking the carpet. _"I think I can predict who the sexiest and best dressed woman will be in the critics' opinion! Finley, Lottie! Over here!"_

Winona, a publicist who represented both Lottie and Finley, heard Luna and recognised her from S! News, the worldwide best news channel for savants. She ushered the two of them over to Luna and stood back, out of the way, whilst the pair posed for a few more photographs before turning their attention to Luna.

"Finley, Lottie! Good evening," Luna grinned, fully aware of the cameras that were trained on their faces.

"Luna, it's so lovely to see you again," Lottie replied with a smile.

"Thank you! Now, I have to say that you two look absolutely fabulous, as per usual. Lottie, that dress is just astounding. I don't know what I was expecting from you, but it wasn't this! Amazing. Who's the designer?"

Lottie answered, "The designer is Karla Benedict, the dress is from her new collection which hasn't been released yet. Even though we've never met, Mrs Benedict personally sent me the dress for tonight and left a lovely note saying she thought it would suit me perfectly. And how could I not wear it? Karla Benedict is practically the Fashion Queen!"

"Oh my, a Karla Benedict dress!" Luna gushed. 'Fashion Queen' was definitely the best phrase to describe the savant designer with; her dresses were always worn by the biggest celebrities and were always ahead of other designers. It was a dream of Luna's to own at least one Karla Benedict dress but unfortunately Karla's cheapest dress cost £10,000 and the others a lot more than that, and Luna could not afford that. "Does this mean that Mrs Benedict will finally choose you two to model for her new collection? We all know that she always personally chooses the models and you two have never been chosen."

"Well Luna," Finley spoke. "You know we would love to model together for Karla, but unfortunately it hasn't happened yet. As far as we know, she hasn't chosen her models for this collection yet... But who knows? Fingers crossed we'll finally get our turn."

"Well I hope you do! Finley, as this a savant event and you're not a savant, how does it feel to be here today?"

"I'm here to accompany Lottie, she hates going to events on her own," Finley laughed, his beautiful features and his bright green eyes simply lighting up as he did so. "Of course it's a privilege to be one of the few ordinary folk that get to be here today, I'm very grateful and excited."

Winona came over then, motioning for the interview to end so the two could walk the rest of the way down the red carpet and into the building. They quickly said goodbye to Luna, who thanked them for talking to her, and posed for a few last photos before following Winona into the biggest party of the year.

* * *

The Benedict family were very well-known all over the world and not just because they were savants. Karla Benedict was the best fashion designer around for years and Saul Benedict was a highly successful film director. Will and Zed Benedict were both actors, having starred in quite a few films, some of them being their father's films; Uriel Benedict was a singer and songwriter, having released four albums that all reached number one in charts all around the world; Xavier Benedict was a world-class skier, having competed in many competitions and won, as well as being predicted to be in the next Winter Olympics; Yves Benedict was well-known for creating security programs for Apple Inc. and had been given an award last year for 'genius of the year'. Trace and Victor Benedict were the only two with ordinary jobs - Trace being a policeman and Victor being an FBI Agent - but they were still just as famous as their parents and brothers. The whole family had even been in their own TV show: Keeping Up With The Benedicts, which many people were hoping got a second series.

Victor accepted the fame and was used to it. After all, he had been in the public eye since before he was even born, when his mum was still pregnant with him. Once upon a time, an FBI Agent wouldn't be famous like he was, their identity would be hidden and their job not popular enough to bring him fame. But that had changed about sixty-five years ago when the knowledge of savants was made public knowledge, and Victor hated that. Just because he was used to the fame, it didn't mean he enjoyed it; he knew it was unavoidable though, and he had to admit that sometimes he did enjoy being recognised in the streets. Sometimes.

There were some perks to this though, like this event. Well, Victor wasn't enjoying himself there but at least nearly everybody else was. It was at this same event a certain amount of years ago that his parents met and realized they were soulfinders - that was what many people did here every year: asked around for people their age and tried and tried to find their soulfinder. Nobody got annoyed by the constant questioning because they all understood the need to find their better half. There were other people simply enjoying themselves, meeting people from other parts of the world or meeting up with old friends. Victor liked the whole idea and concept of the event, but he was never one to enjoy parties and although his mother told him to try and see if his soulfinder was here, he didn't want to - what if he got his hopes up, only to be disappointed at not finding her? He wouldn't be able to emotionally cope with that, he knew he wouldn't, not tonight anyway. There had been a lot going on at work for him recently and another thing added to the pile of things that suck would weigh heavily on him.

Beside him at their table - everybody had a reserved seat at one of the tables for the meal later on but more than half of the people were mingling on the dance floor and smiling for photos for one of the event's private photographers - sat two of his younger brothers, Xav and Zed, who were looking out at the crowd and discussing which girls they thought were hot. Blocking their conversation out of his mind, Victor looked around the large hall, wondering when would be an appropriate time to leave.

"Definitely not yet," Karla Benedict replied to his thoughts - this instantly reminded Victor to put his shields back up - as she lowered herself into her seat and Saul sat down next to her, taking her hand into his. Karla was wearing one of her own designs, a demure black dress that flattered her figure and was perfect for somebody of her age. "You're not even trying to enjoy yourself, Victor. Your brothers are," she added. "Apart from Xav and Zed, the others are all out talking to other people."

Victor shook his head to argue with her, simply because he could. "Actually, Yves snuck into the bathroom about twenty minutes ago to work on the new Android App he's developing."

"Well, I'm talk to him about that later," she replied with a short sigh before looking at something behind Victor. "Ah, Lottie Rose Lovelle and Finley Devlin!" She rose to her feet as the two of them got closer to the Benedict's table and gave them both a little hug and kiss on each cheek. "It is so lovely to finally meet the pair of you. Lottie, you look ravishing in that dress, I just knew it would be perfect for you."

Victor looked up at the young woman and completely agreed with his mother: Lottie really did look ravishing. A lot of the other women here looked beautiful too and a few were wearing Karla Benedict dresses, but this was the first person that didn't look as if she were trying too hard. He knew that there was a lot of speculation about which two models his mother would choose to promote her new collection and that these two were the public's favourite choice, but he knew that Karla wouldn't pay attention to their choice. She chose who she personally wanted and liked to make sure they had a clean image in the press before the collection was released. She always chose the models about a week before the photoshoot, cutting it very short indeed, and if the model was already booked or had a busy schedule... Well, they'd simply change it because this was Karla Benedict and a photoshoot for her collection could no doubt make you the most in-demand model around.

Lottie's cheeks blushed a rosy pink and she smiled modestly as she replied. "Why thank you, Mrs Benedict. You look lovely as well. I owe this to you, you're the one who sent me the dress. I love it so much, even if it does show a lot more flesh than I'm used to."

"I don't think anyone's complaining about you showing too much flesh, cupcake," Xavier, always known as the flirter and charmer in the family, said to Lottie which caused her to blush even deeper.

Karla frowned at Xav before turning back to the two models. "I saw the shoot both of you did for OK! Magazine and I have to admit, you have the perfect image together. It's very rare to find two models that fit together so perfectly."

"That's what everybody says," Finley laughed. "We just do our job and it looks great because our smiles at each other are real, not fake. That's our secret."

Karla laughed. "Well, it looks like you're enjoying yourselves here. It's always great to have so many savants in one place- it's the perfect opportunity for soulfinders to meet under the right circumstances. I just wish my son would try and enjoy himself instead of just sitting here miserably."

"Mum," Victor replied in a flat voice. He couldn't believe she would bring it up in front of two complete strangers, it made him seem pathetic and boring. "You can't force me to have fun. Besides, it'd just be weird to go up to a stranger and conversation with them. Who does that?"

"That's a fair point," Lottie said in an English accent, a contrast to the American Benedicts. "Finley was just about to go and talk to a few friends of his and I don't know them so I wasn't that interested to go with him... I was going to head to the bar. You can come with me if you want."

"But you don't even know me-"

"He'd love to," Karla interrupted her son. "Go on, Victor. It's better than sitting here with your parents, isn't it?"

"Fine," he said through clenched teeth before sighing. He stood up and gestured forwards, silently cursing to himself for letting his mother tell him what to do. He was twenty-one years old, for God's sake, why should he let her? But he knew that his father would say he was disrespecting his mum and Karla would embarrass him even more and not give up until he agreed to go, so he knew he'd made the right choice. He forced a smile onto his face as he looked at Lottie and said, "lead the way."

* * *

**Author's Note -**

Hello! If you've gotten this far down the page, I'm going to presume you've just read the chapter above so thank you for taking the time to read my writing! I'm new to writing on here, so please bear with me, I know it's not perfect.

I plan on making my chapters longer by the way, this was simply to introduce the main characters and their lifestyles.

If you can, please leave a review to let me know what you think so far and whether or not you think I need to change something or make any improvements.

I'm not quite sure when I'll next update, it takes me a while to write a chapter and I do have a life, so for now I'll say once a week updates but that may change.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two  
**_"I love you much, too much to hide you, this love ain't finished yet_  
_this love ain't finished yet…_  
_So baby whenever you're ready..._  
_When you're ready come and get it"_  
Selena Gomez - Come and get it

The sunlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows in her apartment woke her up, much to her instant dismay. It felt as if a drum was banging in her head and her eyes parted unwillingly as she turned to lay on her back and slowly let the white ceiling come into view. She groaned groggily and lifted her hands to rub at her eyes, getting the sleep out of them. _God, how much did I have to drink last night? _She thought to herself, head still ringing with what was clearly a terrible hangover.

She didn't even remember leaving the party and coming home. Thinking back, the last thing she did remember was sitting at the bar with Victor Benedict, telling him to have fun a little as they drank together. Victor told the bartender to keep the drinks coming and the rest... Well, the rest of the night was all a blur to Lottie. She remembered laughing and dancing, but nothing conclusive that gave away how she ended the night.

_Bzzz, bzzz. _The vibrating noise made her jump and she turned her head to see her Blackberry dancing about as it vibrated on the glass bedside cabinet. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of it and answered without checking the Caller ID. "You dirty little cow," she heard Finley's voice in an amused and teasing voice. "Have fun last night, did you?"

"What?" She mumbled, sitting up in the bed. "Finley, what are you talking about? What did I do?"

"Don't you remember?" He laughed. His laugh was always loud and Lottie ended up having to move the phone away from her ear for a second because the loud sound made her head hurt even more. "Get onto your laptop and Google your name."

Lottie did as he said, clambering out of bed and going over to her desk. It was only then that she realized she was naked, but she wasn't that bothered by this as she had always been more comfortable sleeping in the nude. Sitting down on the swivel chair, she opened up her laptop and after a moment, clicked on Google Chrome seeing as she had forgot to turn the laptop off the last time she used it. After typing in her name, she clicked on the first link that came up and was led straight to a blog for savant news. "Hang on a sec," she said to Finley. "Let me read it."

She turned her eyes back to the screen and began to read:

_As you all know, last night was the biggest savant event of the year. You've seen all the photos of them all arriving on the red carpet, so we are sure that you saw the seductive, sexy red dress that actress and model, Lottie Rose Lovelle wore, designed by the one and only Karla Benedict. Lottie has numerously said that she isn't dating anybody right now and took gay human model Finley Devlin to the event as her date; one of her very best friends. So, that would lead you to think that she was in fact single and simply didn't want to attend the event alone, wouldn't it? Well, we have photographic proof that she may have been hiding a secret relationship from us all!_

_Victor Benedict, an FBI Agent and the third son of Saul and Karla Benedict, was seen arriving at the event with his whole family, all piling onto the red carpet together. Like Lottie, Victor keeps his love life private but has insisted that he is single._

_But have Victor and Lottie been hiding a secret relationship, or maybe they just hooked up last night as a one-off? Either way, we have proof in the photos below that they left the event together last night, looking very cosy!_

Lottie scrolled further down the page to look at the two photos that were connected to the article. The first photo showed both Victor and Lottie leaving the building together. Victor was slightly in front of Lottie, his right hand held behind him as she stretched her left hand forward; their fingers were clearly linked together. In the second, they were stood outside a taxi, the back door open as Victor - whom Lottie remembered to be about 6"7; she had been pleased to finally find a guy taller than her - leaned down, his hands on her waist and her arms wrapped around his neck, and kissed her in what looked like a passionate embrace.

Lottie quickly slammed the laptop shut and sat back in the chair, hand shaking as she held the phone back up to her ear. "Oh my god, oh my god," she repeated, voice shaking too. "Finley... What did I do?! I've never had a one night stand in my life!"

"Well, he is a hot piece of meat," Finley replied and Lottie could just imagine him grinning. "I'm sure he was just so charming that you couldn't resist. Mmm, I bet he gave you a real good time, he looks strong and that hair... Wow. If he was gay I would ride-"

"Finley!" She snapped, interrupting him. "This isn't a time for joking around... Did I have sex with Victor Benedict?" She asked, her voice practically a whisper as she did so. She couldn't believe she would have sex with a guy she had only met a few hours before, it just wasn't in her character to do something like that. Finley on the other hand... Yeah, he probably would have, it wouldn't have been the first time. "Oh god."

"Calm down, calm down," her friend tried to reassure her although she could hear in his voice that he was still trying not to laugh. "You don't know for certain that you slept with him, he might have got the taxi to drop you off at your place and that was that. A little harmless making out in the taxi never hurt anyone. Let's see... Did you wake up with a naked man in your bed? If you did, but it's not Victor, I'm starting to worry about you, you slut."

"Oh ha-ha," she said in a deadpan voice. She swiveled around on her chair to face her empty bed and breathed a sigh of relief. "Nope. No naked man. Oh, thank G-" She cut off.

"What? What's wrong?" Finley asked over the phone quickly.

"I'll tell you in a minute," she replied distractedly. Something had caught her eye on one of the cushions on the bed and she walked over, hesitantly picking up the piece of paper and reading the slanted, capital-lettered writing.

_LAST NIGHT WAS GREAT, YOU WERE RIGHT, I NEEDED TO HAVE FUN FOR ONCE. HAD TO LEAVE FOR WORK EARLY, SORRY. I LOCKED THE DOOR BEHIND ME AND SLID THE KEY UNDER THE DOOR FOR YOU. - VICTOR._

Lottie read the note again, this time aloud to Finley, her shock at the fact she had had a one night stand fading away as anger overtook her. "The bastard took advantage of me while I was drunk and didn't even leave me his number to call him? I mean, I probably wouldn't have called him but _still_. It's just common courtesy. What kind of sick lowlife doesn't know that?! He treated me like some kind of whore!"

"Well to be fair, he was drunk too so you took advantage of him as well. Technically, anyway. But yeah, you're right. That's a pretty shitty thing to do, you're right to be angry at him. Just don't make a big deal out of this, ok?" Finley said, serious now. "If we start badmouthing Victor Benedict publicly, Karla's hardly going to choose us for the shoot, is she? We need this shoot, Lots. It's all we've ever talked about for years. Please don't ruin this for us."

"I won't, I promise," she replied. "Well, that's if she doesn't see me having sex with her son as a bad thing. Jesus, Finley. Why didn't you stop me? Why didn't you keep an eye on me?"

"I kind of left early," he said in a sheepish tone. "There was this waiter... It's not important."

Lottie was about to question him about his latest conquest like she usually did but stopped when her phone beeped, indicating that she had another call coming through. Lottie groaned. "I gotta go, Fin," she sighed. "Winona's calling me."

"Ouch. She's not going to be happy," he laughed. "Good luck."

Hanging up, Lottie took a deep breath before answering the next call to prepare herself for the lecture she was surely about to get from her publicist.

* * *

Victor walked into his office where the trainee agent he was the supervisor of was waiting for him with information on the new case. "Right, what have we got?" He asked. "Please don't tell me it's another drug case."

"No sir," replied Kaspar Baczkowski, a Polish trainee. His accent was heavy but he spoke English very well. He was about 5"11 and had curly blonde hair, blue eyes and a gap in his front teeth that showed quite often due to the fact he was nearly always smiling. "A serial killer."

Victor nodded and leaned against his desk, arms folded across his chest. Of course he hated to hear that there was another serial killer around, but in a way he was almost glad as it gave him a better job to focus on instead of just another drug case. "What are the details?" He asked Kaspar.

"Well the police were working on it at first but our boss thought we were better suited, and to be honest, the police were glad to see it go. They've already got a ton of stuff going on so this was just a lot more weight on their shoulders. There uh, there's been three bodies found so far. All young women aged between 18 and 25, all brunette, and the cause of death for all of them was strangulation. They were found tied up with rope to a tree, right in public. All different trees, but all here in London. A fourth girl has been reported missing recently- a brunette, 20 years old. Of course, she might not be the next victim but that's how we're treating it just in case. I have the case file here for you to look over," he handed a file to Victor. "Bodies were washed down, no evidence or other DNA apart from the girls'. No suspects."

Victor's eyes widened and he stared at Kaspar. "None at all?"

"No sir," Kaspar shook his head.

"But you said the bodies were found tied to trees in public areas. You're telling me there were no witnesses, there's no CCTV?"

"That's the thing. The CCTV in all three areas turned themselves off for exactly ten minutes. In that ten minutes, the body was moved and tied up to the tree. When the cameras turned themselves back on, the body was there and there was no sight of anybody else. The police had somebody check the cameras and there was nothing wrong with them or their circuits. There was no way they could have turned themselves off."

"What's your theory?" Victor asked the trainee.

"A savant that can control electricity or switch things off, something like that. There's no other way."

"So there's a savant serial killer running around London..." Victor sighed, knowing this would be another one of those cases that would leave him exhausted and with barely any time to himself. "Ok, thanks Kaspar. Go take a break or something, I'm going to go through this file."

Kaspar nodded and thanked Victor before leaving the office and closing the door behind him. Victor walked around the desk and slouched into his leather chair, running his fingers over his light stubble. He looked at the case file on his desk but couldn't bring himself to open it and see the photos of the dead women. Instead, his mind drifted back to the short snippets of memories he had of last night...

_Victor and Lottie fell onto her king size bed together, laughing hysterically. Lottie grabbed hold of Victor's shirt to pull him on top of her and pressed her lips against his. He opened his mouth to allow her tongue entrance and slid a hand into her hair, trying to get as close as possible to her as he could..._

_Lottie pushed Victor's boxers down his thighs and he pulled them off, the last piece of clothing to separate them from being completely skin-to-skin. He looked down at her smiling face before moving his head down to plant kisses along her neck, before gradually moving lower and lower..._

_Their bodies moved together as if in a sensual dance, their hands caressing each other's bodies. Victor's touch was gentle whereas Lottie was digging her fingers into his skin, scratching him almost. Their lips connected, they barely broke the kiss unless it was to breathe or moan each other's names..._

He was thankful when his phone ringing broke him out of the thoughts and was quick to answer it so he had something else to think about other than Lottie Rose Lovelle.

Before he could say anything into the phone, he heard a familiar voice say, "Vick, I've just seen the photos online! You hooked up with her, didn't you? Man, mom's going to kill you. You know what she thinks about having sex with somebody you're not in a committed relationship with. But wow... Well done to you, she's hot. Definitely out of your league."

"Shut up Xav," he answered before immediately hanging up the phone on his brother.

* * *

**Author's note -**

Wow, I wasn't expecting that feedback, thank you so much! It made me feel inclined to update sooner than once a week, so here you go and I hope you liked this chapter.

Thanks to LOS2005 for reminding me that American's say "mom" and not "mum."

Just in case any of you were wondering, the Benedict's are still from America in this but they are living in London as that's kind of the main place for celebrity savants to live in this story, so yeah.

One more thing: The songs at the beginning of each chapter don't necessarily have anything to do with the chapter, they're just the main song I listened to as I wrote the chapter.

Feedback would be much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**  
_"I'm in the de-details with the devil_  
_So now the world can never get me on my level_  
_I just gotta get you out of the cage_  
_I'm a young lover's rage_  
_Gonna need a spark to ignite..._  
_My songs know what you did in the dark_  
_So light 'em up, up, up"_  
My songs know what you did in the dark - Fall Out Boy

_4 weeks later..._

It was seven AM and Lottie was already awake, sat on the sofa in a sheer baby pink nightgown and eating a bowl of bran flakes and milk. She had always been an early riser ever since she was younger and there was just something that she loved about being up that early and seeing the risen sun ready in the sky for the day ahead. She had the TV on a normal news channel instead of a celebrity one, but had muted the sound when they started talking about another political debate that she had no interest in whatsoever.

However when she looked away from the window and back at the TV, she was startled to see the face of Victor Benedict as he walked up to a podium surrounded by press and photographers. Lottie leaned forward and grabbed the remote, turning the sound on just in time to hear Victor start talking.

_"Hi, I'm Agent Victor Benedict with the FBI,"_ he said in a deep, gravelly voice that Lottie had always imagined the perfect man having. _"As you are probably aware, there have been rumours that the FBI are looking for a serial killer here in London and I am here to confirm in a public statement that those rumours are true. Four bodies of young women have been found, all killed in similar ways and found in similar locations. The identities of these women are being kept private in respect towards the families of the victims. Right now, we have no suspects but we are almost certain we are dealing with a savant gone rogue and are working as hard as we can to catch the killer. We ask the public for patience and co-operation to let us do our job and urge anybody who might know something to come forward as a witness. We suggest that you all go on about your lives as normal, but take extra care for your own safety. Thank you."_ He turned around and walked back into the building that was behind the set-up podium, ignoring the shouts of the press and not answering any of their questions. No doubt he had been told exactly what to say and how to act.

Lottie had plenty of thoughts about these murders but it wasn't something she wanted to think about first thing in the morning so she muted the TV again and took another spoonful of her breakfast, silently thinking to herself about the day ahead. Firstly, she had a few hours of shooting in the studio for her new movie and then she was headed to a meeting with Finley, Winona, and their modelling agency about any upcoming projects, whether solo or with Finley.

Lottie had been modelling since 2009 when she was just 17 years old. Her mother had been a model 'back in the day' and had ended up starting her own modelling agency and still ran it now, which Lottie was signed up to. It had been Victoria's idea to get Lottie into modelling but had never pressured her into doing it, she simply helped when Lottie realised she loved it as much as her mum had, and both women hoped that one day Lottie would take over the agency and keep it famous worldwide. It was one of her biggest dreams, that, and to win an Oscar award (which frankly, she doubted would ever happen).

Suddenly, a wave of nausea overcame her and she quickly put the bowl on the coffee table and all but ran in the bathroom, just in time to drop to the floor and spew into the toilet. Once finished being sick, she rose shakily to her feet and wiped her mouth, moving to the sink to wash her mouth out and then brush her teeth. As she reached for her toothbrush however, she spotted a blue and yellow box out of the corner of her right eye and froze. After a quick mental calculation, her eyes widened and in horror she whispered, "oh God no..."

* * *

With the sound of her Louboutin heels clacking against the linoleum floor, Lottie quickly rushed along the corridor and around the corner in time to see Winona and Finley sat on chairs outside the conference room. Winona breathed out a sigh of relief and frowned at Lottie as she exclaimed, "you're late! They're about to call us in any minute now."

"I'm sorry, I had to make a quick shop at the Chemist's," Lottie replied honestly. "Finley, I need to talk to you. In private. Now."

"It'll have to wait," Winona answered instead whilst looking down at her phone. "We're allowed in now."

With a sigh, Lottie forced a calm composure onto her face and followed Winona and Finley into the conference room. There were a few men and women - all dressed in smart business suits - sat around the large oak table that smiled or nodded greetings to the three of them. The head of the table was a woman. Dressed in an elegant cream skirt suit with her dark brown hair tied in a tight chignon, she looked younger than she actually was and a lot like an older version of her daughter.

Victoria Lovelle was the only one at the table to stand up and come and greet the three of them, hugging both Finley and her daughter and thanking them for coming today. Lottie felt like it had been too long since she'd seen her mum - definitely at least two weeks - and especially after this morning, all she wanted was to fall into her mother's embrace and weep whilst her mum gave her the best advice she could ask for. But she didn't. She knew that she couldn't, not at that moment, so she held back and put on a fake smile that fooled the world.

All four of them took their seats and Victoria was the first to start talking, to start the meeting. "Well I think we all know why we are here for this quick meeting today," she presumed correctly. "It's just an average meeting about Lottie and Finley's modelling careers. You're both doing very well, do you have any questions?"

"Well I'm just dying to know if I got the job for that Burberry shoot," Finley said. He was wearing a white t-shirt that had a pink YSL logo in the centre, with his hair gelled back into its usual style. "Please tell me you have good news."

Victoria smiled fondly at Finley, him having become like a son to her now that he was so close with Lottie. "Actually, I was going to mention that. You did get the job, but there will also be another guy there with you. A savant, new upcoming model, called Harry Benedict."

Lottie nearly choked. "Benedict?"

"Yes," Victoria nodded. "He's the son of Saul's Benedict's brother. Anyway, the shoot is in a few days Finley, I'll have my assistant email you all of the details. Lottie, you don't have any shoots coming up. We did get asked by Abercrombie & Fitch for you to be the face of their next season, but well... We don't like Abercrombie & Fitch so we sent them a polite email to decline the offer. They've been getting a lot of bad press recently, what with the owner saying that they only design their clothes for the skinny and popular people, so we don't want you getting involved with them and people thinking you support that statement."

"I understand," Lottie nodded. "I was disgusted when I read what he said, I wouldn't want to be a part of that anyway. What about the shoot where there was going to be a range of models, all different sizes and weights and ethnics? I'd still really like to be a part of that."

Victoria clucked her tongue in her mouth a few times as she looked down at her notes before answering. "Still working on it. I'll let you know when I find out when it's definitely going to happen. One more thing... Rumour has it that Karla Benedict is currently debating who to choose for her new collection's release shoot. You two are the public's favourite and the fact Karla chose to give Lottie that dress before the collection was released, and the fact you both met her at the event, certainly gives you an advantage. But we all know that she likes her models to have a clean image so if she is seriously considering you, she'll be looking for you to have no bad publicity in the next few weeks. Finley, you're doing fine. The photos of you posing with fans on the street were loved by a lot of people and you have a good image. Lottie, however... I think everybody has seen those sleazy photos of you and Karla's son, Victor Benedict." Lottie blushed bright red under her mother's scrutinizing look. "Either you go out in public with him, showing that you are both clearly a couple in love, or you focus on keeping your publicity as only good things from now on."

Knowing the first option was not a choice, she nodded her head and quietly said, "I'll work on keeping a good image," even though she didn't know if that was even a choice either considering her discovery this morning.

"Good," Victoria replied sternly.

Not long later, she ended the meeting and people started leaving. Lottie quickly made her way over to her mother to talk privately with her. "Mum," she said. "About Victor Benedict... It wasn't... I mean, I'm not dating him."

"Lottie, it's fine," Victoria sighed. "Look, I know you're young and you want to have fun, I understand that. I don't approve of you having one night stands or whatever it was, but I can't stop you. Just please think the next time. Bad publicity for you is bad publicity for me and the agency and none of us need that. Okay?"

"I promise," Lottie smiled, breathing out a sigh of relief that her mother wasn't being too hard on her.

"Now, I have to go. I have another meeting. Don't forget that it's your father's birthday next week, you should come by... He misses you." Lottie gulped and didn't answer. "I know that it's hard for you to see him like that, but he's still your dad and you can't be selfish when it comes to this. At least think about it."

Lottie nodded. Victoria smiled and left the room, leaving Lottie on her own until Finley came back in a minute later. "You ready to go?" He asked her. She looked up at him and he immediately saw the tears on her eyes and rushed over to take her hand in his. "Hey, what's wrong? Lots?"

"Just thinking about my dad," she sniveled, before smiling. "I'm fine, just being silly."

Finley smiled sympathetically. Then he remembered something. "Oh, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Seeing her hesitate, he pressed on. "Come on, it must have been important; tell me."

Lottie let go of his hand to brush the tears off her face and nodded, taking a deep breath before she looked at him. "Finley, I think... I think I'm pregnant."

* * *

**Author's note -**

Again, thank you so much for the reviews! I know that the end of this chapter might make it sound like the story might be a little cliché but I hope you still like it and I can assure you I'm putting my own spin on the whole "one night stand pregnancy" thing.

Also, I know this chapter is shorter than the first two but I think it gets the point across well anyway, so I wasn't focused on making it longer, sorry.

PoshBosch: Thank you! I was actually reading Seeking Crystal again and I got to the part where they get angry at Crystal for being in the newspaper and I just thought, "what if they were in the newspapers for things like dates and such? What if they could be famous?" and it all just went from there really!

Please review again guys, it means so much to me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four  
**_"Today is gonna be the day  
That they're gonna throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you gotta do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do about you now"  
_Wonderwall - Oasis

It was the longest three minutes of her life. The pregnancy test was placed on the coffee table and Finley was sat next to her, letting her squeeze the life out of his hand. Lottie was shaking with nerves when she quietly asked, "what do I do if it's positive?"

"You know your options, sweetie: Keep it, abortion, or adoption." Finley answered gently, but matter-of-factly to make sure the information got through to her. She was grateful for that. "In my opinion, you should keep it and take responsibility for your actions... But this is your choice and you shouldn't listen to me, just know that I will support you through whatever you decide to do. What do you want the test to say?"

"Negative, of course," her answer was quick and easy. "For one, the baby would have been conceived from a one night stand with a guy I don't know at all; secondly, the pregnancy will ruin my body and that will be the end of my modelling career; third, I don't want to be a parent, Finley. I mean yeah, a part of me wants to be a mum but... After what happened when I was fifteen, I can't even bear to think about being pregnant."

Always one to be brashly honest, Finley said, "those all sound like pretty selfish reasons to me. Hey! Don't look at me like that," he remarked after she shot him a glare. "I'm just saying. Think about it though, if the test comes back positive... Yeah, you'd have to put on weight and go through the pain of childbirth, but in the end, will all that be what you think about? No, it won't. Because you'll have a gorgeous little perfect baby; somebody that will love you until the end of time, and vice versa. It might not have come under ideal circumstances, but it will all be worth it. Think about it, Lottie. A _baby_. A small part of you, a start at your own little family. You could put all those 'selfish' reasons behind and focus on a new life, and I promise you won't regret it because you could make your own family as perfect as you wanted. You're strong enough, even if you have to do it without Victor Benedict, I know you are."

Lottie's heart swelled with love for her best friend, whom had always been there for her since she met him, and whom always knew just the right things to say. What he had said would be sweet, a dream and a perfect life, but it couldn't ever happen if the test came back positive... But why not? She silently thought to herself. Why couldn't it work? Even without Victor there, she could be a great mother to her baby just like she always wanted when she was younger. A smile spread across her face as images flashed across her mind: holding her baby for the first time; seeing him/her take their first steps and say their first words; celebrating their first birthday... It all looked so magical.

But the smile faded from her face when all of the negatives came flooding back into her mind, leaving her confused as to how she wanted this to turn out. Yes, this could be a good thing, but she saw it as a bad thing mostly.

"It's time," Finley said after looking down at his watch.

Lottie took a deep breath and leant forward, picking up the pregnancy test with the tips of her fingers and bringing it towards herself. She didn't want to look but she knew that she had to. She had to be brave, just for a brief second, just so she could know. She needed to look.

Letting the breath out, she lowered her eyes to the test.

And there, on the little plastic thing, was a small plus sign. And she didn't know how she felt about that.

* * *

Victor and Kaspar pushed their way through the gathering crowd of the public, the noise of people chatting and wondering what had happened meeting their ears as they did so. Victor wasn't happy about this. Not just because there had been another murder, but because they had managed to hide the details of the first three from the public. Now that the public were aware of this murder and numerous people had seen the body before the police arrived, it wouldn't be long until they figured out this murder was linked to the others and started asking even more questions. That was the last thing the FBI needed right now.

After showing their FBI ID badges to one of the policemen trying to keep the crowd back, they ducked under the police tape and strolled across the grass. They were at a university campus after the police received a phone call early this morning and Victor instantly knew that they were dealing with the same person who had killed the other three girls as soon as he saw a group of policemen - including his older brother, Trace - crowded around a tree to hide the body from the public and the photographers that had turned up. They stepped aside a little so that Victor and Kaspar could join their group and see the body.

As the team of specialists took photos and searched around for any evidence, Victor paled at the sight of the body. It was a young brunette female, completely naked. She was stood up, her hands and feet tied to the tree with rope to keep her in that position. She had no cuts or bruises on her body that he could see, as if the killer had wanted to keep her body in as perfect a condition as possible.

"She was strangled by the looks of it," Trace explained as he moved to stand beside his brother. "The only marks on her body are around her neck."

Her neck was hidden to Victor because the woman's head had fallen forward against her chest and her hair was hanging around her face. Kaspar stepped forward and bent down to look at the woman's face without moving her head before straightening up and turning to Victor. "It's the woman that was reported missing, sir. Clarissa Jones, a student at this university if I remember correctly. We're going to have to inform her family."

Victor nodded at him before looking at Trace. "Your men were first to arrive?" Trace nodded yes. "We're on a university campus, surely there's numerous CCTV cameras around here. Any chance we caught a view of the killer?"

"Unfortunately not," Trace replied, shaking his head. "Security reported all the cameras on campus to have broken, turned themselves off. Ten minutes later they all came back on and the body was there."

"Just like the other three," Victor sighed. "Still no leads, god damn it. Kaspar, let's just go back to the office and try and figure some of this out. We need to see if these girls were connected in any way or if they were random killings."

"There's no such thing as random killings in my experience," said Trace. "Nobody kills someone for no reason. You just gotta figure out the motive and then you'll be one step closer to finding this son of a bitch."

"You've got a point. See you later, Trace." He turned to walk away from the scene with Kaspar but stopped and turned around when he heard Trace shout out of his name. "Yeah?"

"You going to Aunt Rhonda's fancy dress party tonight? Don't leave me go to on my, man. Come on."

Aunt Rhonda wasn't actually their aunt; in fact, she wasn't anybody's aunt but that's just what everybody called her. She was a chat show host as well as presenting a few awards shows and practically everyone knew who she was. It certainly wasn't rare for the lady to have a party but every time she did it was jam-packed with celebrities and the event was big in the media. Victor wasn't really in the mood for yet another party like that. Walking down the red carpet, posing for photos, putting on a good appearance... It wasn't his thing and never had been.

"Don't think so," he shook his head.

"Ah, come on!" Trace protested. "It'll be fun, Aunt Rhonda's parties always are! Besides, you know that mom's friends with her so she'll expect us all to be there. _Plus_, there's going to be a bunch of Victoria's Secret models there. Can you really say no to that?"

Victor grinned. "Well, when you put it that way... I'll see you tonight."

* * *

**Author's note - **

I feel like I'm disappointing you all with the terrible length of this chapter, it's so short and I apologize for that. I've just been so busy and I couldn't think what to add into this chapter which wouldn't interfere with the next one (which, by the way, _will_ be longer, I promise to make sure of that).

Please keep on leaving reviews, you're awesome.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five  
**_"Now I know that I'm not_  
_All that you got_  
_I guess that I, I just thought_  
_Maybe we could find new ways to fall apart_  
_But our friends are back_  
_So let's raise a toast_  
_'Cause I found someone to carry me home"_  
We Are Young - Fun feat. Janelle Monáe

_"Good evening!"_ Luna Wilson said from the side of the red carpet, a microphone in hand and a camera trained on her face. _"Us from S! News are here on the red carpet to welcome all the stars that have been invited to one of Aunt Rhonda's legendary parties, this one being fancy dress! We've already seen a selection of celebrities and costumes so far, including Aunt Rhonda herself who was dressed in a one of a kind Superwoman dress designed by her long-time friend Karla Benedict. And speaking of the Benedicts, it seems like two of the brothers have arrived! It's Victor Benedict with the youngest, Zed. Let's have a look at what they're wearing!"_

The camera turned to point at the two brothers, zooming in so the viewers at home could get a good look at them as they walked down the red carpet and held still for photographs. Zed Benedict was dressed in black jeans and shoes, with a furry jacket and his face painted to make him look like a wolf. He wasn't the first guy to look like he hadn't put much effort into his costume, but there wasn't anybody that could deny the fact that he made even a wolf costume look good. He held up a hand to wave to some fans - causing a lot of screaming to come from that area - and you could see that he was wearing furry gloves that had long, sharp claws at the end of each finger and his thumb.

Victor Benedict had gone for an entirely different look. Instead of having his hair tied back like he usually did, he was wearing it down but had gelled the front of it backwards, and length-wise it stopped just below his shoulders. He was wearing plain black shoes, black jeans rolled up at the bottom and a white shirt with pinkish-red stripes going down it. The costume was finished by red suspenders holding his jeans up, a red bowtie, a brown blazer and a fake sonic screwdriver popping out of the top of the outside left breast pocket of the blazer. Clearly, he was dressed as Matt Smith's Doctor Who.

As they got closer to Luna, she waved them over to her for a short interview, saying hello to both of them. "I love your costumes, guys! What made you decide to wear these particular ones?"

"Well, mine is from a little joke on the set of my new movie," Zed replied with a grin. "Somebody made a joke about how I could be scary sometimes if I'm in a really intense scene, and then somebody else said I was like a Wolfman. And that's what everyone has been calling me since so I thought it'd be a laugh to dress up as a wolf for this party," he laughed.

"And Victor?"

"I had to put an outfit together at the last minute because I wasn't coming to come tonight because of work. I'm a big fan of Doctor Who and it's an easy enough outfit so I thought, what the hell?" He smiled.

"Well you both look great! Before you go, I have to ask. You arrived here together as brothers, without a date. Is there a special lady in either of your lives?" Luna asked teasingly, a glint in her eyes.

"The closest thing I have to a special lady in life is my mom," Zed teased, making Luna coo. "No, I'm single. I'm getting older now, I don't want to mess about with girls anymore, I'd prefer to wait for my soulfinder to come along."

"That's so sweet! Victor? What about you? We've all seen those photos of you making out with Lottie Rose Lovelle a few weeks ago, yet none of you have talked about them since. Is Miss Lovelle a special lady in your life?"

Victor mentally rolled his eyes. He'd already guessed that somebody would ask him about Lottie and had been prepped by his publicist on what to say and do. He smiled a crooked smile and said, "I'm afraid that's something I can't discuss, Luna," before winking at her. "You know, Lottie's a beautiful and lovely girl. Anyone would be lucky to date her."

"Ah, but are _you_ dating her?" Luna pressed, desperate for answers to gossip.

"Only time can tell what's going to happen," he said, remaining aloof. "I guess we'll all have to wait and see."

Thankfully for Victor, Andrea (who worked as a publicist for the whole Benedict family) came over then and ushered the boys away from Luna and towards another news reporter. Victor knew that his vague answers to Luna's questions were going to leave people gossiping even more, but what else could he have said? He couldn't deny that they had been together, the photos were proof of that. And he couldn't tell them the truth about it just being a one night stand because that would make them both look bad and neither of them needed that right now.

Heading inside the party, he was almost deafened by how loud the blaring music was and when he turned to say something to Zed, he found that his brother had already wandered off and left him alone. Sighing, he wandered over to the bar hoping that he wouldn't have to talk to anybody, whether that made him sound like a social recluse or not.

* * *

Half an hour later, Victor had been sat at the bar with just one drink, knowing that he couldn't drink too much as he had to be up early for work in the morning. Trace had been the only person to come up to him and talk but had left after five minutes or so after spotting a group of Victoria Secret models; Victor had turned down the offer to join them, his mind too busy trying to figure out these murders, but said that he might join them later on.

His mind kept on returning to the murders no matter how much he tried to think of something else. Not only was it disgusting that there was another serial killer around, but it was appallingly disrespectful to leave the girls naked and in public. The fact that the girls were all brunette and around the same age suggested that there was a personal reason why the killer had chosen them, and the fact that he'd left the bodies in a relatively okay condition suggested that he cared for them, maybe. There was definitely some big reason behind these murders, not just that the killer wanted to kill and the girls were the easiest targets. Knowing the connection between the girls wasn't enough to guess the killer's motive and therefore figure out who he was, and that annoyed the hell out of him.

"Victor?" His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a feminine voice behind him.

Spinning around on his stool, he was surprised to see Lottie Lovelle stood there and even more surprised by the outfit she was wearing. Lottie had on a dress that was blue on top with thick shoulder straps and had a white section underneath that was slightly longer than the blue part. The dress was tight at the top pushing out her breasts, and the skirt part flared out and went to mid-thigh on her, showing off her long legs. It had a sort of black and white tuxedo printed onto the top part, 'police box' printed along the waist, and the skirt part of the dress had windows printed on it. She was wearing blue and white Converse to match the dress and had her brunette hair down in curls, a black headband on that had a fake lantern lamp on top. To stand out more, her eyeliner waved out at the edges like Cleopatra and her lips were painted a bright red.

After checking out her costume, Victor met her eyes and smirked. "You're the Tardis."

"And you're the Doctor. We match," she laughed and climbed onto the stool next to him, facing the bar. Victor swung back around and looked at her, waiting for her to speak first. "So how have you been?"

"Fine thanks, just busy with work," he answered. "You?"

"Fabulous. I've been just fabulous," she said. Victor detected a tone of sarcasm and bitterness in her voice that made him curious what was wrong, but before he could ask Lottie spoke again. "Look, this is kind of awkward. Well, really awkward actually. But I really need to talk you... In private sometime. I know we don't know each other but this is important, I promise."

Victor wondered what on Earth could be so important that she needed to talk to_ him_ about it? Shifting on his stool, he sighed and apologized. "I'm sorry but I'm really busy with work. You've heard about the murders, right? I don't know when I'll be able to get some time off, sorry."

Lottie sighed loudly. "Well this is important and you need to know so I'll just tell you now; just don't make a scene or anything, I don't want anybody overhearing, okay?" Victor nodded and she sighed again before leaning in closer to him and speaking quiet enough for only to him to hear. "We had sex a few weeks ago, yeah? That's what happened that night, even if I don't remember much about it. And now... I'm pregnant, Victor."

Victor quickly pulled away from her, his eyes wide and his face frozen in shock. He thought back to that night and remembered that they hadn't used protection which wasn't like him at all; no matter how drunk he was, he usually always remembered. But this couldn't be true, could it? They'd only had sex once, what were the odds that she'd get pregnant? He knew it was possible, but still... He never imagined it would happen to him! He didn't know anything about babies and he didn't think he'd have to worry about having children until he met his soulfinder. _If_ he ever met her. This couldn't be happening, it couldn't be real.

He slowly shook his head, staring at Lottie. She was looking at him with eyes just as wide, trembling nervously as she awaited his reply. Clenching his teeth together, Victor tried to reply as calmly as he could. "Are you sure?"

"I took a test. And then another three. They were all positive."

"And are you sure it's mine?" He blurted out, losing his calm composure slightly.

Lottie's cheeks blushed bright red and her expression turned from nervous to angry. "Of course I am! I don't just sleep around with a hundred guys, I never have one night stands usually! How dare you ask that? Do you think I'm some kind of slut or something?" She lowered her voice just in case somebody was trying to listen over the music. "It's your baby, Victor. I don't know whether or not I'm going to keep it yet, it's not exactly the perfect circumstances to bring a baby into. But whatever I do, you don't have to be involved." She got off the stool and stood up. "I'm not a bad person; I just thought you deserved to know."

She gave him one last angry glare before spinning around and disappearing into the crowd, leaving him at the bar alone again.

* * *

After her disastrous encounter with Victor, Lottie fled from the party and got a taxi to the one place she wanted to be: her parents' house. Although it was late, her mother welcomed her in with a tight hug and led her into the kitchen. "Where's dad?" Lottie asked as Victoria put the kettle on.

"Oh, he's asleep upstairs. He gets tired out a lot these days, as you saw on his birthday." She turned around and leant her back against the counter, facing her daughter who was leaning against the opposite kitchen counter. "Now, tell me what's wrong with you."

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Lottie asked absentmindedly, not meeting her mother's eyes.

"Because you came here straight from a party, still dressed up. And you hardly ever come here anymore so something must be wrong," Victoria answered matter-of-factly.

"Nothing's wrong," Lottie lied, shrugging her shoulders. "I just wanted to come by."

The kettle clicked and Victoria busied herself with making them both a cup of tea, just the way both of them liked it: two sugars and plenty of milk. Lottie noticed that her mother was using her favourite cups and smiled a little; it reminded her of old times, before everything happened with her father and when she used to come by to her parents' house every day if she had the time to. They stood in silence for a minute, sipping their tea slowly and scalding their tongue every time.

"That's it." Victoria put her cup down and crossed her arms over her chest. "Tell me what's wrong right now, Charlotte."

Lottie knew that her mum wasn't going to let her leave without telling her everything. She always meant serious business when she used her full name. Truthfully though, she was grateful that her mum was pushing her to tell her. She had wanted to confide in her and that's why she had come here, but then she had just chickened out and been unable to say it. Now however, her mum was pressuring her into it and weirdly that made it easier for her to tell the truth.

"I had sex with Victor Benedict the night of the savant event four weeks ago," she blurted out. She spoke quickly, the words spilling out of her mouth and blurring together. "I was drunk and I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't even remember it at first. He left in the morning before I woke up and didn't leave his number and I thought that was it, it was just a one night stand that I wanted to forget and that would never, ever happen again. I knew that I'd see him and his family at events and such, but I planned on just ignoring him and pretending we didn't slept together. But then my period didn't come and I was throwing up in the mornings and sometimes during the day and I took four pregnancy tests and they all came back positive." She paused to take a long-needed breath and looked up to finally meet her mum's eyes. Finally, Lottie was crying; she'd felt like crying when she left the party but had managed to hold the tears in. It felt so good to finally let them out though. "I'm pregnant, mum."

Victoria was silent for a moment, looking at her daughter with eyes that seemed to be popping out of her head. "I'm not happy that you got yourself into this mess," she finally spoke. "But I'm not going to have a go at you. You're a fully grown woman and you make your own decisions now, I can't stop you from living your life how you want to. Plus, I can tell that right now you just need some support." She walked over to Lottie, taking the cup out of her hand gently and putting it on the counter behind them before pulling her into her arms, holding onto her tightly. She pulled away after a moment so they could look at each other again. "Honey, what are you going to do about this?"

"I don't know," Lottie cried, shrugging her shoulders. "I always thought I wouldn't have kids until I met my soulfinder and if he didn't want any, I was fine with not having any. I don't like abortions but... Maybe it would be for the best. I'm going to be a single mum, what if I can't cope? It wouldn't be fair on the baby! Plus, being pregnant could ruin my modelling career. It's just not something that I want right now, mum."

"Lottie, we've never told you this before but you weren't a planned pregnancy either," Victoria said softly. "I was doing brilliantly with my modelling and we decided to have an abortion however when we got to the clinic we couldn't go through with it. During the pregnancy, I always felt like I didn't want you. But then I held you for the first time and I regretted ever thinking of getting rid of you. What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't make any major decisions yet because you might come to regret them in the future. However hard it seems now, it'll all be worth it in the end."

"That's what Finley said too," she smiled a little. "I told Victor tonight and he asked if it was even his baby. Mum, I don't think he'd want to be involved and help me with the baby. I don't want to have to do this on my own."

"Darling you won't have to," she replied sternly. "Your father and I will help you as much as you need. Besides, motherhood will come naturally to you once the baby is born, you'll see." She sighed and shook her head. "It's your decision to make, Charlotte. And it doesn't have to be the end of your modelling career."

"But you stopped modelling after you had me."

"And that was my choice," she smiled. "You don't have to make the same one. You could get back in shape and start working again. And you could always model for maternity wear and baby companies. See? This baby is not going to ruin your life if you decide to keep it. Chances are, it'll make your life a thousand times better. That's what happened with me."

* * *

**Author's note -**

Ok, I did try and post a link so that you could see the costumes but it wouldn't let me post the full links no matter how much spaces and brackets I put in. If you would like to see Victor's outfit and/or Lottie's dress, just send me a PM and I'll try and send you the links that way! (If that works?)

One last thing: If any of you have read the Morganville Vampires series, please check out my new fanfic "The World Of The Dead". It's kind of a crossover with The Walking Dead but if you haven't seen TWD, don't worry, you'd still be able to understand the fanfic and what's going on! I've posted two chapters so far.

Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note-**

This chapter contains a scene that may upset and/or disturb some people.

* * *

**Chapter six  
**_"Not really sure how to feel about it_  
_Something in the way you move_  
_Makes me feel like I can't live without you_  
_It takes me all the way_  
_I want you to stay"  
_Stay - Rihanna feat. Mikky Echo

_The surrounding area of the park around her was filled with small children running around, their laughter bouncing off the trees and echoing in the area. It was a sweet song to hear and it brought a smile to Lottie's face as she looked around, the sight of them playing reminding her of her own childhood. With her mother starting up her modelling company and her father working for the police force, Lottie was quite often placed at a daycare centre for a few hours or more; more than once the staff would bring the children to a park that looked very similar to this. Maybe it was even the same one, there didn't look to be much difference._

_She walked down the cobbled pathway, the cobbles warm beneath her bare feet from the hot sunshine gracing the world. Summer was coming soon, her favourite season of the year, and she hoped the weather then would be as pleasant as it was in the park._

_She heard a child calling for her mother in a panic and spun around, wondering if she could help the little girl that sounded so scared. Looking around though, she saw the startling discovery that all the children had disappeared. Every single one of them except..._

_Somebody tugged at the bottom of her dress and Lottie looked down to see a child staring at her. Falling down to her knees so she was at the same height as the young girl, Lottie's eyebrows furrowed together as the feeling of familiarity swept over her powerfully. The girl had a round face with bright blue eyes, her hair in short ringlets to her shoulders, a beautiful dark brown colour._

_"Do I know you?" Lottie asked gently. "I feel like I should know who you are..."_

_"You should," the girl nodded, her voice sounding wise despite the fact she only looked about five or six years old. "My name is Charlotte. I'm you; you're me."_

_"I don't understand... What's going on?"_

_"Can you help me?" Charlotte asked, tilting her head to the left. "I've done something very bad and I guess because you're me when I am older, you're the only person that I can trust. Will you help me, Lottie?"_

_"Um, sure sweetie," Lottie said slowly, still confused as to what this situation was all about. Guessing that the little girl probably needed help with something she'd broken, or perhaps lost, she asked, "what do you need help with?"_

_"I need you to bury a very small grave, I'm not strong enough to do it myself," Charlotte sighed as if that was the biggest problem in the world. "I killed somebody, you see. She was barely a person yet, but still a person nevertheless. And I killed her because I didn't know what else to do... Everybody else has gone and I was all alone, what did they expect me do? So? Will you help me hide the body?"_

_Lottie paled, a sense of dread filling her core as the sunshine above her disappeared. Now the world looked dull and dark; menacing. "Charlotte... You didn't really kill somebody, did you? Please tell me this is some sort of sick game or joke..."_

_"No it isn't. Look." Charlotte stepped to the side to reveal something behind her and Lottie looked down at it in horror. It was just a little baby, the size of a newborn, tiny and vulnerable. Innocent. A completely innocent baby that didn't deserve what had been done to her. Empty blue eyes that matched Lottie and Charlotte's stared up at Lottie, lifeless. The small body was limp and pale white, deep scarlet coloured blood covering her torso._

_"Oh my god," Lottie chorused, absolutely disgusted at and terrified of the sight in front of her. "Oh my god, oh my god." She forced herself to look away and to look at Charlotte. "What did you do?! Oh my god, what did you do? That baby did nothing wrong, how could you? You murderer!" She shouted at the girl._

_Charlotte looked unbothered by the shouting and shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't just me that killed her, Lottie. So did you. You killed this baby- the baby you yourself just said did nothing wrong. And you killed her simply because you felt like you'd been left alone by everybody. You were selfish and you killed this baby. You made the wrong decision and now you'll have to live with that for the rest of your life. Will you help me dig up a grave now?"_

Lottie awoke, sitting up straight in the bed, breathing heavily. What the hell sort of dream was that? She thought to herself. It was beyond creepy and the whole idea of it was just plain weird... But she couldn't deny that she didn't see the meaning behind the dream: it was her conscience's way of telling her not to have an abortion. That she wasn't like those girls who really weren't in a position or state of mind to have a baby. She could easily afford to look after the baby, could easily learn to bring it up with the help of Finley and her parents.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, not wanting to face this decision yet. Again, she was procrastinating against making a choice but she couldn't even be bothered to care about that right now. She stumbled out of the single bed with baby pink sheets decorating it and pulled on her Tardis dress over her underwear. She had ended up staying up late crying to her mother so had stayed the night in her old bedroom and didn't have any clothes to change into.

Barefoot, she padded out of the bedroom and down the stairs, avoiding the kitchen where she could hear Victoria humming to herself as she cooked or cleaned- a habit Lottie herself had now. Her father was on the sofa in the living room, his wheelchair beside him as he watched TV. He didn't notice her in the doorway at first which gave her a moment to just look at him.

Harry Lovelle looked older than he actually was, the result of his job as a construction worker years ago and the chemotherapy he had been suffering through for the past three years. Lottie had once had an extremely close relationship with Harry, he had been her idol and she had been daddy's little girl. But when he'd been diagnosed with chronic lymphoid leukemia three years ago, Lottie had been devastated. She'd immediately done as much research on the cancer as she possibly could, not believing her eyes when she read that there was only a 50% five-year survival rate.

She hadn't been able to deal with it well and had selfishly distanced herself from Harry despite the fact he needed her more than ever. She'd seen him just a couple of weeks ago for his birthday and that had been the first time she'd seen him for four months. She just hated seeing him that way; she hadn't wanted to watch as he slowly lost so much weight and energy that he could barely walk - hence the wheelchair - and didn't want to see him so poorly. What daughter would want to see that for her father?

Harry used to be quite muscular, with thick copper coloured hair and bright green eyes. Now he had a scarily-thin frame, his hair was left to little tufts and his eyes always had a dullness to them, no longer shining brightly with humour. It truly did break her heart to see him like that. She missed the old him so much and every day she thought about coming to see him but always chickened out because she was such a coward.

She walked over and sat on the sofa next to him, curling her feet up and resting her head on Harry's shoulder. "Morning dad," she said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too," she heard a smile in his raspy voice. "Good morning. Your mother told me everything that happened. I'm sorry you've found yourself in a situation that you don't like."

"Are you not angry at me?"

"Yes. But not for the reason you would think. I'm angry because you're seriously considering an abortion," he said. Harry had always told her the truth about serious situations like this and that hadn't changed at all over the years. "Lottie, you would be a brilliant mother and I hate that you doubt yourself. Plus, a baby... A baby would be a brilliant thing for this family, sweetheart. I think it would bring us together again, help us forget about my illness and focus on a new life."

"Are you really surprised I'm thinking of an abortion?" She asked with a long sigh. "I'm not talking about Victor Benedict or my modelling... I mean the type of person that I am. I always push people away when I'm scared; I'm selfish and cowardly, I know that. But life would be so much easier if I didn't have this baby, if I waited until I was with my soulfinder or somebody I really love until I start a family."

"I know more than anybody that life isn't easy," Harry said with a small chuckle. "And you should too by now. There are thousands of single mothers in the world, what makes them so different to you, eh? I'm not going to tell you what to do, my girl. But I will say that I will be disappointed if you have an abortion and very excited if you don't. I would love to be a grandad before the end of my days."

"Don't talk like that," she reprimanded him, not wanting to hear him talk about 'the end of his days'. His words made her think again of the dream she'd had; she knew that the horrifying and creepy sight would stay with her for a long time. It wasn't just her dad's words - although they were part of it - but it was her dream that brought out her next words. "Anyway, I've made my decision. I'm keeping the baby, with or without Victor Benedict." And deep down, she knew that would have been her decision in the end anyway, no matter how long she put off making the decision, that would have always been her choice.

She was going to be a mother.

* * *

_I'm pregnant, Victor... I'm pregnant, Victor... I'm pregnant, Victor... I'm pregnant, Victor... I'm pregnant, Victor..._

Over and over and over again the words echoed in Victor's mind, a record playing on repeat. He was at his parents' house along with the rest of his brothers, a day dedicated solely to hanging out with each other seeing as it had been a long time that they'd had a day like that because they were all so busy. Sat on the sofa, he wasn't even listening to the chatter of his brothers around him- Lottie's voice was stuck in his mind and he couldn't think of anything else. He made sure to keep strong shields up so that his mother and Zed - the mind readers in the family - didn't hear these thoughts, a trait he had learnt the hard way to keep doing.

_She's pregnant. _A day later and he was still in disbelief over the fact that he was going to be a dad if Lottie decided to keep the baby. It actually angered him to think of her getting rid of _his_ baby but what was he supposed to do? Demand that she keep it and go through the pregnancy even if she didn't want to? He couldn't do that; it wouldn't be right.

An image came into his head of himself holding a little baby wrapped in a pink blanket, smiling down at her as her tiny little fingers held on to one of his thumbs. He leant down to kiss her forehead gently, softly rocking her from side to side. Then Lottie appeared beside him smiling, kissing the baby's head before giving Victor a kiss on the lips and whispering "I love you" to him.

He shook his head to shake the image from his mind. He was only picturing that because he'd always imagined not having a baby until he was happily in love... He could dream of having that in the future, but the circumstances with Lottie were a lot different. He would never have that with her not did he want that with her. He wanted to have that with his soulfinder. If he was involved in this baby's life, what would his soulfinder think of him having a child with somebody else? Would she approve? He could easily stay out of the baby's life - Lottie had practically said she wouldn't care - and pretend for the rest of his life that this had never happened...

But Victor wasn't heartless. He wasn't the kind of man that would have a child and not take responsibility of it. Plus, he imagined his soulfinder finding out that he had a child but wasn't in it's life and knew that she probably wouldn't like that very much. He had to take care of this child, for the child's sake and for his future soulfinder. And Lottie too; it wouldn't be fair to leave her to bring up their baby on her own. He wanted to support her and do the right thing, even if he didn't think he was ready to be a dad yet.

He slid his Blackberry from his jeans pocket and sent a text to Andrea: **Cancel my interview for S! this evening. I have some extended family stuff to take care of, you're going to have to rearrange it. Sorry. -Victor**

He let out a long sigh and tried to remember where Lottie's apartment was, memorizing the address as he did so. He'd go and see her later today, he decided. They had _a lot_ of talking to do.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note -**

At the end of Chapter Two, I said in my author's note that the songs were just songs that I listened to whilst writing the chapter, which they are, but I'm also now going to try and make it so they're kind of relevant to the chapter :)

I honestly cannot describe how amazing your reviews are, thank you so much.

* * *

**Chapter seven  
**_Explosions...on the day you wake up  
Needing somebody and you've learned  
It's okay to be afraid  
But it will never be the same"  
_Explosions - Ellie Goulding

After spending most of the day at her parents' house, Lottie headed back to her apartment and hopped straight into the shower. She then changed into her pyjamas - a plain white tee and black and white cotton pyjama pants - with her wet hair tied up into a bun at the top of her head. She couldn't be bothered doing anything else with her hair, nor did she put any make up on, because she planned on staying in for the rest of the night and wasn't expecting any visitors.

Stood in the living room, her hand drifted down to her stomach. She was only about a month gone in her pregnancy so she didn't have a bump yet, but she was still suffering from slight sickness throughout the day and felt a little bloated. She tried to imagine what it was going to be like to actually have a bump but the thought was just so bizarre to her. I suppose I'll see what it's like quite soon, she thought to herself.

She collapsed onto the sofa with a loud sigh, yet again doubting her own abilities to be a good mother. Whether or not she thought she had it in her to be a good mum was an invalid point; she would have to learn as well as hope the mother's intuition came naturally to her. Right now she needed to focus on the fact she knew nothing about being pregnant, never mind how to look after a baby. Were there certain things she should and shouldn't eat? Could she still go to the gym and work out? Were there any classes that it was important she took? When did she have to contact a midwife and when would she have her first scan? Making a mental reminder to look it all up some time, she grabbed her mobile off the the coffee table and dialled Finley's number.

"Lottie!" He answered in a cheery tone. "I was just about to phone you. You'll never guess what. You know that Burberry shoot I had coming up with Harry Benedict? Well, it was today and I had _so_ much fun! Plus, Harry Benedict is just as gorgeous as his cousins and we're hitting a club together tonight! He actually called it a date, I am so excited."

"That's great," she answered immediately before hesitating. "But are you sure that's really a good idea, dating a savant? What if he finds his soulfinder, you'd be devastated."

"Well yeah but I'm not going to get serious with him, it's just a little fun. Anyway, what were you phoning about?" He questioned before saying, "oh! I know you don't Google your own name but I do Google yours and a lot of people are wondering about you and Victor Benedict again. You know, because of the fact you turned up separately at the party but just happened to be wearing matching costumes."

"That was a complete coincidence!" Lottie said, her fingers clutching the edge of the sofa cushion. "God, it's so stupid. Did I tell you that I confronted Victor at the party?"

"What! No you didn't!"

Lottie nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her. "I told him that I was pregnant and he asked if I was sure that it was his. I mean, does he think I'm a slut or something? Jesus. Anyway I went to my parents' place afterwards and spent the night there. My mum and dad have convinced me to keep the baby."

"Oh thank sweet baby Jesus," Finley replied loudly. "I was praying you wouldn't get an abortion, I really was. This is brilliant, Lottie; you'll be a great mum. Do you think Victor will want anything to do with the baby?"

"Based on his reaction at the party? No, I don't think he will. But you know, that's okay. I don't need him," she said defiantly.

"Girl power," Finley joked. "Although I really think you should give him another chance. The Benedict family are supposedly lovely, maybe Victor was just so shocked that he didn't know what else to say. I mean you went a little crazy when you found out, it's completely normal. All I'm saying is that you should at least let him know that you've decided to keep the baby and then let him make a final decision. For a girl you had a one-night stand with to turn up and announce she's pregnant... Well, I can't imagine that it's been easy on him either, you know?"

Lottie thought about this for a moment before agreeing with him. "Well yeah you're right," she said, understanding that it must be hard for Victor to get his head round it just like she had. "And I would give him another chance but I don't even have his phone number or anything so I can't exactly get in touch with him. I don't know, I guess we'll have to see how things turn out."

"Well good luck," Finley replied. "You know that I'm always here for you... Except for tonight because I have a hot date with a hot guy. I best start getting ready, you know it takes me at least a few hours to look this good!"

Lottie laughed and said her goodbyes before hanging up. She was about to turn the TV on to catch up on her favourite soap, Hollyoaks, but just as she was reaching for the remote there was a succession of knocks on the door.

* * *

Victor had remembered the apartment building but not the apartment number that Lottie lived in. He'd had to ask the woman at the reception desk - who hadn't even swooned when she realised who he was; the whole building was packed full of celebrities so she was clearly used to seeing them - and at first she had refused to tell him Lottie's apartment number and let him up because Lottie hadn't told the front desk she was expecting a visitor, nor was his name on her list of people to let up at any time. Security was obviously tight which could only be a good and a safe thing for the mother of his child. She'd let him up however when he'd flashed his FBI badge and claimed it was 'confidential business'. It was just a little white lie that wasn't going to hurt anybody so he didn't feel bad for doing it. The badge always worked and was definitely one of the perks of his job.

Stood outside of Lottie's front door, he hesitated with his hand in the air ready to knock. This was it. This was when his whole life was going to change forever. It would be irreversible; it was no longer just himself that he had to look out for now. Now he had a baby, a son or a daughter, to think of too. He didn't think he was ready for that commitment, nor did he want the baby, but he took a deep breath to centre himself before knocking on the door. He had to do this. He would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't.

A moment later, the door swung open to reveal Lottie in her pyjamas, with her hair tied up and no make up on. He certainly couldn't deny that she was naturally beautiful and he was attracted to her even under these circumstances. _Stop it, _he told himself. He didn't want to notice how attractive she was; the last thing he wanted was to fall in love with her and have this whole situation become even more complicated.

Her blue eyes widened and she was silent for a minute. "Victor," she finally said. "What are you doing here? How did you even get up? Security..."

"Yeah security wouldn't let me up until I showed them my FBI badge," he chuckled. "Do you have time to talk? I really think we need to."

"Yes, we do," she sighed. "Sure, come on in." She stepped back and let him into the apartment before shutting the door behind him and leading him over to the sofa. "Sit down."

"Thanks," he said as they both sat on the sofa. He cleared his throat and was the first one to break the silence. "So um, I guess it's obvious what we need to talk about. The baby-"

"I'm keeping it," she interrupted him. "I've decided to keep the baby."

Victor suddenly felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders in relief. It was strange: he didn't want the baby, but he didn't _not_ want the baby either. He was glad that she had made that decision and he didn't have to convince her to. "Good," he nodded with a soft smile. "I was hoping you wouldn't have an abortion. Lottie, first of all I would like to apologize. I was rude to you the other night and I had no right to act like such a dick and I'm sorry. I was just... I guess I was in disbelief about what you were saying, it just came out of nowhere. I don't think lowly enough of you to think that you would sleep around, of course I don't. So yeah, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she smiled back at him, her voice quiet. "My friend pointed out to me that I shouldn't be too angry with you because you were probably just shocked. Victor, if you've come here to tell me that you don't want to be in the baby's life, then that's okay. I mean, I know these aren't the perfect circumstances to have a child in and I would understand. I wouldn't hold it against you and I won't tell the public that you're my baby's father. Nobody will have to know, I promise."

Going along with that plan wasn't even an option for him in his opinion and this time he didn't even try to consider it. If he was old enough to have unprotected sex and get a girl pregnant, then he was old enough to take responsibility for his child. "That's not what I want to do," he replied to her in earnest. "I'm going to be there for you and the baby, I'm going to be the dad that he or she deserves. Obviously this isn't going to be easy and there are a lot of things for us to work out, but if we really try hard enough I think we can do it. We'll just have to deal with everything for the sake of baby and put our own feelings and thoughts aside. We have to put our baby first."

Lottie's smile grew and she breathed a sigh of ease, as if this was the answer she had been secretly hoping he'd give her. "That's brilliant," she said. "I completely agree with you; if we try hard enough, we can figure out everything and what's best for _our_ baby. No matter how tough if gets."

Victor nodded in agreement, his eyes catching sight of the time on the clock on the wall. "Look, I have to go," he said in a sheepish tone. "I have an interview for S! that my publicist tried to rearrange but couldn't. How about we swap phone numbers so we can keep in touch for obvious reasons?"

Shortly after, Victor found himself in his car and driving to the S! News studios for his interview. But he couldn't even focus on thinking about that, his mind was too busy thinking about the fact that in eight or so months, he was actually going to be a father.


End file.
